Floor rack for refrigerator cars



March 3, 1942.

D. c. WEBSTER 2,274,998 FLOOR HACK FOR REFRIGERATOR CARS Filed Aug. 8, 1941 INVENTOR. M c. Aw: BY v ATTORNEY J circulate beneath the lading. circulates down through ice compartments at Patented Mar. 3, 1942 7 2,274,998 FLOOR RACK FOR REFRIGERATOR CARS Deane c. Webster, Berkeley, Calif: Application August 8, 1941, Serial No. 405,968

a Claims. (or. 105-375) The present invention relates to the floor racks used in refrigerator cars for supporting the lading above the solid floor of the car.

Refrigerator cars are usually provided with racks or slatted false floors spaced a few inches above the solid main floor, the principal purpose of such racks being to support the lading suf-' ficiently above the solid floor to permit air to The air usually the ends of the car, thence horizontally beneath the floor racks toward the center of the car, thence upwardly through the open space or center aisle opposite the doors and through interstices in the lading itself, and finally returns horizontally above the lading to the ice compartments. The circulating air absorbs heat from the lading and is cooled in passing through and around the ice in the ice compartments. The racks are usually made with spaced longitudinal stringers resting upon the solid floor of the car, and spaced transverse slats nailed or bolted on top of said stringers at right angles thereto. The slats are spaced about one inch apart, to permit the air to pass freely upwardly between them.

The spaces between the transverse slats frequently cause trouble, especially when the lading consists of boxes or crates packed with fruit or vegetables. Such boxes and crates usually have exterior cleats at their ends and are bound with wire or metal straps, which sometimes catch in the spaces between the slats of the floor rack when the lading shifts endwisein the car due to sudden starting and stopping, and may cause the caught boxes to break or be crushed, or may cause the upper layers of boxes to shift upon and damage the bottom layer.

Transverse spaces between floor rack slats, perpendicular to the longitudinal center line of the car, sometimes cause trouble in loading at the center aisle. If one or more such spaces becomes widened, due to wear of the edges of the slats,

. or if a transverse space between adjacent sections of the'rack becomes widened by shifting apart of the sections, a wheel of a hand truck entering the car through .the side door may drop into such a widened spaced, upsetting the truck and spilling the load.

The principal object of this invention is to provide a floor rack for refrigerator cars in which the spaces between the slats are inclined horizontally with respect to true transverse lines across the car, so that the edges of boxes or crates, or the cleats or metal bindings of said boxes, will bridge the spaces of the rack and will not catch therein. Another object is to provide a sectional floor rack in which the slats and intervening spaces of adjacent sections run at different angles to the perpendicular, so that a herringbone pattern of slats and spaces is produced.

A further object is to provide a sectional rack having so-called gate sections in the center aisle of the car, in which each of said gate sections is .longer than the width of the aisle and of the doors, and is provided with horizontally slanting slats and spaces. so that there are no true transverse spaces in the aisle opposite the doors into which the wheel of a hand truck can drop. Another object is to provide a sectional floor rack in which the endmost slats of each section extend entirely across the section and have one edge horizontally slanted and the other, or outer, edge transverse, so that said end slats have as much strength as any of the other slats.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description, which should be read with the understanding that the invention may be embodied in vehicles other than refrigerator cars, and that changes, within the limits of the claims hereto appended, may be made in the form, construction and arrangement of the several parts herein shown and described,- without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Reference will be made to the accompanying drawing, wherein Fig. l is a horizontal section of a refrigerator car with my improved floor rack therein.

Fig. 2 is a broken approximately transverse section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Nonessential parts have been omitted fromthe drawing. The reference numerals 3 and 6 designate the side and end walls respectively of a refrigerator car, 5 are the ice compartments at doors 8. The gate sections In fill in the spaces I in the center aisle H between the main sections 8.

Each main section 9 of the rack comprises parallel spaced longitudinal stringers l2, preferably three in number, resting upon the solid floor l3'of the car, and a plurality of slats Hi secured to said stringers I2. The slats id have parallel sides and ends, but are not rectangular in plan, and are positioned with their sides horizontally inclined or slanted from a true transverse line, i. e. they are not perpendicular to the longitudinal center line of the car. The ends of said slats l4 are parallel with the side walls 3.

At each end of each main section 9 the slats la is trapezoidal in plan, having one side edge parallel with the edge of the adjacent slat, and the other or outer edge parallel with the ends of the car. The end slats Ma are wide enough so that their converging edges do not meet in a point, and have sufficient width, even at their narrow ends, to provide firm bearing upon the stringer I2 and adequate strength for the narrow end portion that overhangs said stringer.

The horizontal inclination of the slats of laterally adjacent main sections is reversed, so that a herringbone pattern is made by said slats. The pattern is preferably reversed in the two end portions of the car, as shown. The spaces i5 between adjacent slats are of sufficient width; preferably about one inch, to permit free upward flow of air. 1

The gate sections Ill have longitudinal stringers l6, preferably two in number, and horizontally inclined slats l1 and 11a, formed and positioned similarly to the slats l4 and Ma of the .main sections 9. The slats Ila at the ends of the gate sections are trapezoidal, their transverse edges matching the corresponding adjacent edges of the slats Ida.

The main sections 9 are preferably hinged to the side walls of the car, as indicated at it, so that they can be raised to vertical positions adja- 'cent to said side walls when the floor of the car is cleaned. Each gate section is hinged, as indicated at l9, to an adjacent main section. When cleaning the car, the main section and its connected gate section are first raised together to vertical position, and then the gate section is swung back, like a gate, against themain section, so as to leave the doorway free. The gate sections are preferably hinged to the main sections by'having their stringers overlap, and run ning a bolt, indicated by the broken line H),

' through the overlapping stringers.

It will be seen from the foregoing description,-

and from Fig. 1 of the drawing, that when a rectangular box or crate is placed on my floor rack, with two of its sides parallel with the side walls of the car, the edges of its other two sides will bridge one of the spaces, !5 and will be supported by two of the slats, so that said edges will not catch on the edges of said slats, even though there may be projecting cleats or binders :at the edges of the box.

It will also be seen from Fig. 1 that there are no transverse spaces in the gate sections 10 of my floor racks in front of the car doors 8. By making the gate sections wider than the doors, and by having their slats horizontally inclined, as

shown, the possibility of a wheel of a truck drop-- ping into a space is reduced to a minimum. The spaces most likely to spread apart are those, designated 20, between the gate sections and the unconnected main sections, since the rack sections might shift endwise slightly. But these spaces are inside the sides of the-doors, so that a truck entering the door will have turned toward the end of the car before crossing said spaces 20, and will therefore cross them either damage 1. A floor rack for refrigerator cars comprising spaced longitudinal stringers supported by the floor of the car, and spaced slats'supported by and secured to said stringers, said slats being positioned with their side edges horizontally inclined relative to the transverse direction of the car.

2. A-fioor rack for refrigerator cars comprising spaced longitudinal stringers supported by. the floor of the car, and spaced slats supported by and secured to said stringers, said slats having their ends parallel with the side walls of the car and their side edges horizontally inclined relative to the transverse direction of the car.

3. A floor rack for refrigerator cars comprising spaced longitudinal stringers supported by the floor of the car, and spacedslats supported by and secured to said stringers, there being one slat at each end of the rack of trapezoidal plan having its outer side edge parallel with the end of the car and its opposite side edge horizontally inclined with respect thereto, and the intervening slats having both side edges parallel with the inclined edges of said end slats.

4. A floor rack for refrigerator cars comprising a plurality of matching sections covering the floor spaced slats secured thereupon, said slats being positioned with their side edges horizontally inclined relative to'the transverse direction of the car.

5. A fioor rack for refrigerator cars comprising a plurality of matching sections covering the floor of the lading compartment of the car, each section having spaced longitudinal stringers and spaced slats secured thereupon, there being one slat at each end of each section of trapezoidal plan having its outer side edge parallel with the end of the car and its opposite side edge horizontally inclined with respect thereto, and the intervening slats having both side edges parallel with the inclined edges of said end slats.

6. In a refrigerator car having a floor, side and eng walls defining a lading compartment, and doors in said side walls near the center of said compartment, a floor rackcomprising a plurality of sections, there being a main section extending from each end of said compartment nearly to the transverse aisle connecting said doors, and a gate section filling the floor space between said main sections, said gate section being longer than of sections, there being a main section extending from each end of said compartment nearly to the transverse aisle connecting said doors, and a gate section filling the floor space between said main sections, hinge connecting means between said gate section and one of said main sections, and the joint between said gate section and the other main section being positioned between said aisle and the end of the compartment, each of said sections comprising spaced longitudinal stringers and spaced slats secured thereupon, the side edges of said slats being horizontally inclined relative to the transverse direction of the car.

8. In a refrigerator car having a floor, side and end walls defining a lading compartment, and doors in said side walls near the center ofsaid compartment, a floor rack comprising at least four main sections and two-gate sections, one main section lying on each side of the longitudinal center of the compartment and extending from the end thereof nearly to the transverse aisle connecting said doors, and said gate sections filling the floor space of said aisle between said than the width of said aisle, hinges connecting the main sections with the car structure permitting said main sections to swing upwardly to ver-- tical positions adjacent the side walls, hinges connecting said gate sections with the ends oi two of said main sections, each of said sections comprising spaced longitudinal stringers and spaced slats secured thereupon, the side edges of said slats being horizontally inclined relative to the transverse direction of the car.

DEANE C. WEBSTER.

main sections, said gate sections being longer 

